Weir dumps long time swing coach

He may have helped Mike Weir become the first Canadian to win a major, but lately Mike Wilson couldn’t help the left hander play a solid Sunday round.

Though a press release that was issued this morning doesn’t make it clear, Weir’s feeble Sunday performances this year have resulted in the firing of Wilson as Weir’s swing doctor. IMG, Weir’s sports agency, issued a press release on the issue and used a canned Weir quote to discuss the parting:

“Mike and I have enjoyed a lot of success during our time working together, but I think there are times in your career when a new perspective and a fresh set of eyes can be a productive thing,” said Weir. “I’m heading into the off-season, an important time to accomplish goals in preparation for next season, so if a change was to be made, now was the right time. Mike has played an important role in my career over the past decade, and I’d like to thank him for all of his valuable contributions to my career.”

The press release also noted that Weir is now working with Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer out of Philadelphia. Apparently a number of players have had good success with Bennett and Plummer. The press release notes that Bennett and Plummer have worked with four first-time winners – Aaron Baddeley, Dean Wilson, Will McKenzie and Eric Axley, and apparently Grant Waite and Steve Elkington are big fans.

All of this raises some questions — why did Weir wait so long to make the change, or has this been a done deal for a while and only announced now? Lorne Rubenstein at the Globe appeared to have no idea about the move (or didn’t mention it) when he spoke with Weir for recent column.

At a recent press conference, Weir had this to say about his year:

It’s been a little bit indifferent. I think obviously the final rounds haven’t been too good to me this year. As I was telling Bob out there, I’ve been kind of working through a few things on my game and golf swing.

I’ve learned a lot about what’s holding up, what’s not and kind of have all those things kind of ironed out I feel like and, you know, outside of the Canadian Open I feel like I played pretty consistent all year. Like I said, a few rounds away from it could have been a great year if I could have played a couple better rounds but, you know, still got a couple tournaments left to make it a great year.

“Indifferent” is being too kind. Weir’s final round scoring of 72.53 ranks 172 on the PGA Tour. With that in mind, 2006 has to be a year where Weir wonders what could have been. Take a shot or two off that final round scoring and he likely wins a couple of times.

Interesting though, to note that some golf fans also think it is time Weir cleaned house and dropped longtime caddy Brennan Little. Check out Bob Weeks’ blog to see those remarks. I’m not so sure about that — after all, Little doesn’t swing the club for Weir. And if he got rid of Little, what would Dynamic Funds do about all those billboards?

The Toronto Sun’s Ken Fidlin gives a pretty good assessment of Weir’s season here.

Robert Thompson

A bestselling author and award-winning columnist, Robert Thompson has been writing about business and sports, and particularly golf, for almost two decades. His reporting and commentary on golf has appeared in Golf Magazine, the Globe and Mail, T&L Golf and many other media outlets. Currently Robert is a columnist with Global Golf Post, golf analyst for Global News and Shaw Communications, and Senior Writer to ScoreGolf. The Going for the Green blog was launched in 2004.